Everything that happens to man is a reflection of all those great cosmic events that have to do with his existence. Those who wish to understand the observations made by clairvoyant consciousness of the phenomena taking place between birth and death, and again between death and a new birth, will be able to do so if they first acquire the faculty of interpreting imaginative observations by means of conceptions [pg 336] gained by reflecting upon great cosmic events. These contemplations, indeed, furnish the key to a comprehension of human life. Therefore the study of Saturn, Sun, and Moon are, from the standpoint of occult science, at the same time a study of man.
Through inspiration one arrives at a knowledge of the relationships between the beings of the higher world, and a further stage of cognition makes it then possible to recognize the inner essential nature of these beings themselves. This stage of cognition is known to occult science as that of intuitive cognition.[32]
Cognition of a sense-being implies standing outside of it, and judging it according to outer impressions. Intuitive cognition of a spiritual being implies being at one with it; uniting oneself with the inner nature of that being. Step by step, the occult student ascends toward such cognition. Imagination leads him no longer to consider phenomena as the external qualities of beings, but to recognize them as psycho-spiritual emanations; inspiration leads him further into the inner nature of these beings. Here we can again illustrate by means of the foregoing chapters what is the meaning of intuition. In those earlier chapters it has not [pg 337] only been stated how the progress of the Saturn, Sun and Moon evolutions proceeded; but also that beings took part, in widely different ways, in that progress, and mention was made of the Thrones or Spirits of Will, the Spirits of Wisdom, the Spirits of Motion, and so on. In connection with the earth's development, reference was made to the Luciferian spirits and spirits of Ahriman. The structure of the world was traced back to those beings who took part in it. All knowledge pertaining to these beings is derived from intuitive cognition, which is also necessary, if we wish to understand man's life.
That which is released from the human physical body at death passes on through various states in the future. The more immediate conditions after death might, to some extent, be described by referring to imaginative cognition, but that which takes place when man has proceeded farther into that time lying between death and a new birth would be entirely incomprehensible to the imagination, did not inspiration come to its aid. For inspiration alone can disclose what can be revealed about man's life after its purification in the “land of spirits.” We come to a point where inspiration is no longer adequate—where it reaches the limit of its possibilities. For there is a period in human development, between death and a new birth, in which the human being is accessible only to intuition.
Yet this part of the human being is always within man, and if we wish to understand it in its true inner nature we must also seek it, between birth and death, [pg 338] by means of intuition. Anyone attempting to fathom man by means of imagination and inspiration alone would miss the very innermost being, that which continues from incarnation to incarnation. It is therefore by intuitive cognition alone that adequate research concerning reincarnation and Karma becomes possible, and all genuine knowledge of these processes is derived from research undertaken by means of intuition. If a man wishes to know his own inner self, he can only do so by intuition; by its aid he becomes aware of what it is that moves onward within him from incarnation to incarnation; and should it fall to anyone's lot to know something about his earlier incarnations, this can only take place through intuitive cognition.
Cognition through inspiration and intuition is attainable only by means of psycho-spiritual exercises, and they resemble those meditations practiced for the attainment of imagination which have already been described. While, however, in exercises for the development of the imagination, a connection is set up with impressions belonging to the world of the physical senses, such connections gradually cease in the case of exercises for inspiration. In order to understand more clearly what must be done, let us recall once more the symbol of the “rosy cross.” When we meditate on this we have before us a picture, of which the component parts have been taken from the world of the senses: there is the black colour of the cross, the roses, etc., [pg 339] and yet the combination of those various parts into the “rosy cross” is not derived from the world of the senses. If the student now endeavours to banish from his consciousness both the black cross and the red roses, as pictures of sense-realities, only retaining in his soul that spiritual activity which has been used in putting these parts together, he will then have a means for a meditation that will gradually lead him on to inspiration. He should put the question to himself somewhat in the following manner: “What have I done inwardly to construct that symbol from cross and rose? What I did (an act of my own soul), I will retain within my hold; but the picture itself I will allow to fade away out of my consciousness. I shall then be able to feel within me all that my soul did in order to produce the picture, though I no longer recall the picture itself. I will now live wholly within my own activity that created the picture. I will not meditate upon a picture, but upon the powers of my own soul which are capable of creating pictures.”
Such meditations must now be practised with various other symbols. This leads then to cognition through inspiration. Here is another example, that of meditating upon the growth and subsequent withering of a plant. Let the picture of a slowly growing plant arise in the soul, as it sprouts from the seed, unfolds leaf after leaf, then blossoms and fruits; then again as it begins to wither on to its complete dissolution. By the help of meditations on such a symbol as this, the student gradually attains [pg 340] a feeling concerning growth and decay of which the plant is but a symbol. If the exercises be persevered in continuously, the image of the transformation which underlies physical growth and decay can be evolved from this feeling.
But if one wishes to attain the corresponding stage of inspiration, this exercise must be practised quite differently. Here one's own activity of soul must be called to mind,—that which had obtained the conception of growth and decay from the image of the plant. The plant must now be allowed to vanish altogether from the consciousness, and the attention be concentrated entirely upon the student's own inner activity. It is only such exercises as these that help us to rise to inspiration. At first the occult student will find it difficult to fully grasp how to set about such an exercise. This is because man is used to permitting his inner life to be governed by outward impressions, and thus falls immediately into uncertainty and wavering when now he must unfold in addition a soul life which has freed itself from all connections with outward impressions.
Here the student must clearly understand that he should only undertake these exercises if along with them he cultivates everything that may lead to firmness and stability in his judgment, emotional life, and character; these precautions are even more necessary than when seeking to acquire the faculty of imagination. Should he take these precautions, he will be doubly successful, for, in the first place, he will not risk losing the balance of his personality [pg 341] through the exercises; and secondly, he will acquire the capacity of being really able to carry out what is demanded in these exercises. They will be deemed difficult only as long as one has not yet attained a particular attitude of soul, and certain feelings and sentiments. He who patiently and perseveringly cultivates within his soul such qualities as are favourable to the growth of supersensible cognition, will not be long in acquiring both the understanding and the faculty for these practices.